Im working on swapping a blade on an 111 mm sak, i have the proper sized brass axis pins but Where does one buy the brass collars that form the rivet head that tops off the pin. Not sure I’m using the proper term, but from the videos i’ve seen they look like a brass collar of some sort. Thanks!
Sak blade swap question
- Thread starter rotador
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They’re difficult to find. I usually try to salvage the collars from donor SAKs, but I usually end up ruining the collars on one side when I drill the pins out.
I’ve seen a few sellers on EBay and Etsy that sell them, but I’m not sure if they are selling genuine Victorinox collars or if they machine them themselves. It really shouldn’t be too difficult to machine them with a small lathe.
I’ve seen a few sellers on EBay and Etsy that sell them, but I’m not sure if they are selling genuine Victorinox collars or if they machine them themselves. It really shouldn’t be too difficult to machine them with a small lathe.
Most people refer to them as "bushings". They're not a standard part that you could just buy anywhere like a screw or a washer. I believe they're made only for Victorinox Swiss army knives. Their shape is designed specifically to hold the plastic scales to the outside of the SAK.
If you go slow and drill by hand instead of using a drill press or an electric hand drill, then it's almost impossible to ruin the bushings. I always use quarter inch hex drill bits with a quarter inch hex bit screwdriver. I almost never ruin a bushing this way unless it's on a 58mm SAK. Those bushings are so small that you can easily ruin them even if you're drilling out the pins by hand. Thankfully it's really easy to get a ton of Classic SD knives for cheap, so you don't really have to worry about ruining the bushings or the aluminum liners.
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I never thought of drilling them by hand. I’ll have to try that next time.
A quick search of “Victorinox rivets” on the big auction site brought up several sellers of what appear to be Chinese copies of the bushings. They might even work, but they’re asking a lot for small quantities.
Are you keeping the original scales after the blade swap? If you don´t mind gluing the scales back I would say you can use what ever you want as a bushing/collar as long as the hole is the right size. Take a 2mm plate (or use a bushing from the hard wear store) and drill the right size hole in it and shape it to size. You still need to peen the pin to the bushing.
The bushing needs to have a cup on the outward facing side to form the rivet. This is what holds the bushing in place, which in turn holds the scales to the sides of the SAK.
The Victorinox bushing also has a lip around the outside. This is what prevents the scales from slipping off. The back of the lip digs into the soft plastic of the scale and won't let it go without causing some damage and wear on the scale which makes them fit more loosely if you attempt to re-use them. Glue works too, of course.
The Victorinox bushing also has a lip around the outside. This is what prevents the scales from slipping off. The back of the lip digs into the soft plastic of the scale and won't let it go without causing some damage and wear on the scale which makes them fit more loosely if you attempt to re-use them. Glue works too, of course.